Expediccionado: The Day My Girlfriend Broke Up with Me

Today was our final full day in Mazatlan. Charlie and I wanted to have one last outing downtown to do some souvenir shopping and pick up a couple things for dinner. Rather than having the bellboys call us a cab, we just walked out to the street and got into the only one parked where we had seen cabs lining up all week. The driver immediately addressed us in nothing but Spanish and never asked how I knew it, so that was kind of nice. He also pointed out several points of interest and monuments and explained some of the demographics and geological features of Mazatlan. I tried to cut in whenever possible to interpret for Charlie and was minimally successful. Luckily, Charlie is catching on to the whole Spanish thing and picked up a fair bit of what was said. When we got downtown, the driver asked whether we wanted to go directly to the market or whether he could take us a roundabout way and show us a few more things. We agreed to the latter so he drove us a little further south and continued his tour. It was quite nice to be oriented rather than wonder about all the things that zipped by the car window. He was also critical of the aggressive timeshare sales that goes on all over the city and warned us against taking anyone up on a free offer. “Nothing is free,” he said. “Everything has a price.” As we neared our destination, Charlie wondered aloud about El Chapo’s recent capture and before I had the chance to ask, the driver just started telling us the epic tale of how it happened.

We were dropped next to the cathedral and walked up to the main entrance to buy a gift from the little kiosk there. Then we walked the block to the market and went the long way around to avoid the non-food vendors. The first thing we saw when we entered was a skinned cow head lying upside down on a butcher’s counter, at eye level with any passersby. It was slightly unnerving but also kind of cool. We walked by the funny butcher from whom we had purchased beef a couple of days before and he smiled and nodded in recognition. We bought some beans and then went outside, chatting about whether to have second breakfast like a couple of hobbits. There were several little trailers along the street selling tacos and other typical dishes, so we approached one run by two young men who looked no older than 18 or so. Next to the trailer was a little table where several locals sat eating their lunch, and the trailer itself also had a built-in metal bench and bar area where it looked like one could eat. Since the table was full, we sat on the bench and immediately drew the stares of the other patrons and people walking by. Other than in the church, this was the only time that people obviously stared at us. We ordered a few tacos and then I asked one of the young proprietors whether it was alright that we were sitting there to eat. He looked at me like that was the stupidest question anyone had ever asked and said yes. We ate a few pork tacos with onions, cilantro, and a mixture of salsas and fresh lime juice, and then obnoxiously paid with bills so large that the poor guy had to wander around the block asking other vendors to help him make change.

Street tacos

After our short meal, we flagged down another pulmonía for our ride back to the resort. This one was slightly quieter and stank slightly less of exhaust, fortunately. The driver also tried giving us a tour kind of ride, but we told him we had been there a week and had already seen a lot of things. He told us about the aquarium anyway and it made us regret not going there because it sounded really cool.

When we got back to the resort, we joined Tony and Elena at the pool, swam a bit, went for a cigar walk, and then went back to the pool to sunbathe and have lunch. Charlie spotted my "girlfriend" as she circulated the pool on her security circuit and we were amazed that she either didn’t spot me or was ignoring me completely. We saw her again near the reception desk where she clearly avoided eye contact, perhaps because she was near her coworkers. Charlie asked what I had done to upset her and I said I hadn’t seen her since she smiled at me from the security gate the day before.

Pool iguanas

Today I learned that iguanas are excellent climbers.

A close-up of the sand

My view most days

Since it was our last day, Charlie and I walked around the resort to give extra large tips to a few of the staff who had gone above and beyond in their service, especially where it concerned accessibility for Elena. After we made our last stop, we once again found ourselves about to cross paths with my girlfriend. She was clearly still avoiding eye contact so Charlie stared her down to force her to acknowledge him. And she did, but only him. She didn’t even look at me. “I think my girlfriend just broke up with me,” I told him. “That’s why you shouldn’t stick your dick in crazy,” was his reply.

We walked out to the beach for a few minutes to watch the sunset. The sky was completely free of clouds, which meant there would be no shocking pinks and purples, but the sunset was no less beautiful.

My man watching the sun set

A lovely side effect of the earth's rotation

We headed back to the room and Tony, Elena, and I played Qwirkle while Charlie prepared dinner. We ate the rest of the beef from the market with a slightly different take on the mole sauce, plus rice, fresh salsa, and the refried beans we had bought at the market earlier that day. It was delicious, of course. We prepared our luggage for our trip out the next morning, built the couchbedfort, and then headed out for one last cigar by the pool. And now, without further ado, Smoking in the Park!

Update: Rather than dedicating a whole blog post to our trip home, I just decided to add it as an addendum to this post. Suffice it to say that our flights were cancelled or delayed every step of the way and it took as long to get home as if we had been on the other side of the globe. It was exhausting, but a took a few interesting pictures: